Woman sells fake Facebook stock, charged with theft

An Oshkosh woman was recently charged with 31 counts of theft, forgery, and drug possession after she sold fake Facebook stock. The 46-year old woman told people that she had come into possession of $1 million of Facebook stock through her daughter, whom she claimed was friends with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

For about four months before the company announced their IPO, the woman allegedly sold fake stock to several acquaintances, including a contractor working at her home, a vision-impaired Oshkosh man, and two others. The woman paid the contractor with about $13,980 in Facebook stock, and the contractor purchased an additional $10,000 worth of stock. He later admitted that he was skeptical about the transactions because the woman had lied about her own personal information in their papers.

The Oshkosh man paid the woman $43,000 for stock in the social networking website, but never received the stock certificates she promised to mail him. The woman also received about $9,900 from two other men interested in purchasing Facebook stock. While investigating the Oshkosh woman, police discovered that she was growing marijuana at her home, and also charged her with multiple drug crimes.

Contact the Milwaukee theft defense lawyers of Kohler Hart Powell, SC at (414) 271-9595, if you or someone you know is being investigated for theft or other crimes.